A little bit of rice for me and you

Sol learned this recipe from his 할머니. In Korean the word for grandmother sounds a bit like ＂harmony＂. I love that. I also love this recipe because it is so simple. As long as you have a bit of  rice, soy sauce, and sesame oil you are set. Feel free to play with it. Once I added bacon. That was a good day.

I know that what I am about to suggest may sound a little strange, but don’t worry, you can trust me. One of the first times I went grocery shopping with Sol he didn’t look at the labels on the bags, just the rice. After a few minutes of poking around he went to grab the arborio. “No! No! No!” I thought. Arborio holds a special superstar Italian status, I couldn’t imagine it within an Asian context. Oh what a silly girl I was.

Harmony Rice for 2

• 1 cup of short grain rice (Arborio or the Japanese sushi kind. Something with a whole lot of starch please)
• 4-5 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 eggs
• 2 handfuls of roughly chopped rocket/arugula
• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil

 1.  Wash your rice. This may seem a little tedious, and for this I am sorry but it must be     done. You don’t need anything fancy though, just the pot and your hands. Put your rice in the pot and cover with water. Swish it around a few times and then drain the murky water. Don’t worry if you don’t drain every last drop, just do your best. Do this about 3 - 4 times.         

            

2. Cook your rice. I don’t really bother with measurements when it comes to rice anymore. A good rule of thumb is to remember you’ll need double the amount of water to your rice. I usually judge this by sticking my finger in the pot, the rice should come up about half way, the other half should be water. The rice will be finished in about 20-30 minutes or so. You shouldn't see anymore water and there will be little holes where the steam is trying to escape.

3. While the rice is cooking fry the mushrooms in a little sesame oil, then put them aside. Next fry the eggs sunny side up , then put them aside. 

4. When the rice is cooked spoon as much as you can eat into your bowl. Sol likes his rice bowl best with 3 big spoons of both sesame oil and soy sauce, I prefer only 2 of each. Mix it around. Divide the mushrooms and rocket between your two hungry bowls. Mix it around. Top with the egg. Hand the bowl to hungry person, and have them mix theirs around.

  EAT

One last suggestion, after you finish the rice call for reinforcements.

Wear something sparkly ...

... and have a little fun.